Imagine a story about a virus that kills two-thirds of America and characters who have to survive by salvaging items from abandoned homes, stores, and vehicles. This is the opening of The Eleventh Plague, by Jeff Hirsch, a science fiction novel. The Eleventh Plague is set about fifteen years in the future and it starts in American woods. This book is about a fifteen-year old boy named Stephen who has survived a deadly virus with his father but the rest of his family died. Stephen and his father had been bossed around by Stephen’s grandpa for so long, but finally, they were free. Throughout the book, they hide from army soldiers and slavers, who find salvagers like Stephen and take them as slaves.

Jeff Hirsch did a great job telling the details and traits of the characters from a first person point-of-view. I liked this book because of the theme of survival and also because I can relate to some of the characters. I kept on reading because it had an exciting plot and a little bit of suspense. I recommend this book for a middle schooler because of the Lexile level. There aren’t many challenging words. Overall, this book was a fun read; if you like adventure, this book is for you.